A Time To Love
by beth1814
Summary: "I love you" Lexie can't believe that she blurted that out
1. Chapter 1

A/N Here is a story based on the speech made by Lexie in last week's episode. Wasn't that perfect? And I know that I am working on Courting Lexie, which you should all read, if you are not already, and there should be another chapter for that story this week.

Read and review!

Lexie looked at Julia, who had just appeared after she had bared her soul to Mark. _Stupid, stupid_ Lexie thought to herself. Not once during her speech did she think about Julia, and she doesn't know if Julia heard any of her speech. Lexie looked at Mark and he looked completely shocked.

"Umm, good-bye," Lexie said as she turned around and left.

Mark turned his head and watched her walk away and fade into the darkness that surrounded the hospital. _I love you_, Lexie had said. And she had said it more than once. He was shocked, speechless. It wasn't fair, he had moved on, or at least tried to move on, with Julia. He had been hurt by Lexie not once, but twice. He didn't know if he could trust her again. But then Mark didn't think it was fair to string Julia along, when he knew, deep down, that he would never be able to love her like he loves Lexie. There it was, the truth. He still loved Lexie, and Mark suspected that he always will love her.

Julia saw the emotion that was on Mark's face. She didn't know what it was that Lexie had said to her boyfriend, but it seemed like it had deeply affected Mark, whatever it was. Julia knew that the two of them had a history together, but had assumed that it was all in the past. But maybe it wasn't. Maybe there were unresolved issues between the two of them. Julia liked Mark, could possibly love him, but now she wondered if he was even free to love her back.

"I think that you need to go talk to her," Julia said.

"If I go, I don't know if I will come back to you. I know that is not what you wanted to hear, but Lexie just bared her soul to me and now I don't know what to do, expect say that my heart is telling me to give Lexie another chance. My head is saying, don't take the risk, but I have to listen to my heart on this one."

Julia looked at him with a sad smile. "I completely understand. I don't want to be the one to stand in your way. Plus it's not fair to me to keep you somewhere you don't want to be."

"Thank-you for understanding," Mark said.

"Now go get her," Julia stated.

Mark gave her one last smile and then turned in the direction that Lexie had gone. He knew that she probably was at Meredith and Derek's, as that's where she currently was residing. He pulled up in the driveway, beside Derek's SUV, and just sat there for a moment. He wanted to be 100 per cent sure that this is what he wanted to do. Because if, for some reason, this time turns out like the other 2 times, he didn't know if his heart could take it. But then on the other hand, if he didn't take this chance, he would always be wondering what if. So He got out of the car and proceeded to the door.

Lexie had come home after her speech to Mark. She still couldn't believe that she had blurted out that she loved him like that. She had been telling the truth when she said that she felt better for saying that she loved him. It was very freeing. But then Julia showed up, and that feeling turned to crap, what have I done? Of course Mark stood there in shock; he didn't want to hurt her feelings. He was with Julia, she kept repeating to herself on her way home. Derek had taken one look at her when she came into the house, and knew that she had spilled her feelings to his best friend.

"What happened?" Derek asked her.

"I told him that I loved him, and that he was like a disease, that he was in me, and then Julia showed up. What if she had heard me profess my love for her boyfriend?"

"I would say that if Julia did hear you, it would be a good thing, because that means that she knows you are going to fight for Mark, that you still have feelings for him." Derek was trying to be helpful, and understanding of Lexie's problems, mostly because he knew that Meredith couldn't help because of all her studying for the boards. He just hoped that he was saying the right things to Lexie. Derek didn't want to see her get hurt again. He knew that when she found out that Callie was pregnant with Mark's baby, which was like a knife to the gut. But he also knew that she had moved on from that pain.

"I just said what I did because I didn't want another day to go by without him knowing that I loved him and would always love him."

"And that took a lot of courage, I would say,"

Just then the baby monitor, which was sitting on one of the end tables, emitted a cry. Zola was up and wanting attention.

"I guess I better go check on her. It will all work out, Lexie" Derek said as he went up the stairs to attend to his daughter.

"I sure hope so," Lexie said quietly to herself. She felt drained. A busy shift covering for all the residents that were taking their boards, and then the speech, had worn her out. But before she could make it to the stairs, the doorbell went. She didn't know who could be at the door, but was not suspecting Mark, which it was.

"Can I come in?"

A/N 2 so like I said up top, please read and review. I know I left it hanging, will get the next chapter written soon, I promise. Enjoy


	2. Chapter 2

A/N so here is the second part to my story. I have decided to only make it two chapters long. I wanted to write a proposal and a wedding, and maybe some kids, but I think that I am going to save that for my other story. Plus I probably will need to have something to pick me up after the season finale on Thursday, especially if Lexie gets killed.

Anyways read, enjoy and review!

Mark stood there looking at Lexie. Ever since she first said "I love you," he had noticed the depth of that love shining from her eyes. And he assumed that that love had been there for a while, Mark had just been not seeing it, for whatever reason. But Mark thought it was because he hadn't been looking for it, and that he had been guarding his heart from her. The previous two times that Lexie had left him, it had nearly destroyed him. But yet, he couldn't stop loving her. It was exactly like she said. He couldn't eat breath or sleep, without her. He had tried with Julia, but his heart really wasn't free to love her like she deserved. It was because his heart belonged to the woman currently standing in front of him.

Lexie couldn't believe that Mark was there. She hadn't expected to see him until tomorrow, and even then, she probably was going to try and avoid him. The fact that he was there was something though. She had thought that he would have just gone home with Julia. Julia was the safe choice for him, she knew. Lexie had really hurt him in the past, and she didn't know if Mark wanted to be with her, to take a chance on them, yet again. But here he was, on the porch of Meredith and Derek's place, looking like he was willing to take that chance.

"Yeah for sure," Lexie said in answer to his question _"Can I come in?"_

He followed her into the house and into the living room, where Lexie sat on one side of the couch, so Mark sat on the other side. They faced each other.

Lexie just sat there waiting for Mark to say something. After all it was him that had come to see her. And she had already poured out her soul to him outside the hospital. So she thought that it was his time to say something.

"I have to say, firstly, thank-you for making that speech. I know that it took courage. I don't know if I would have had the courage to say what I feel to you, without knowing that you returned the feelings."

When Mark said this, hope started to spark deep within her soul. Maybe she had a chance.

"And now that you have, all I can say is that I love you, so much. There are things that we need to discuss, because this is it. I am not letting you out of my life again."

"Same here" Lexie spoke for the first time since they sat down. "This is it; I want to make this work, even if crap happens."

"I know that we both have hurt each other in the past, and probably will in the future. That's just human nature. But there will be no running when that does happen. And I have to know that you accept Sophia as an important part of my life, and in turn that makes Callie and Arizona important as well. "

"I know she is. I have to tell you why I ran when you said that Callie was pregnant with your child. It wasn't that you had sex with her, although that did hurt, it was that, yet again, you were going to have a child with someone other than me. I know that you didn't know about Sloan until recently, but she is still your daughter. Then here comes Sophia. I was deeply hurt by that, and I had to go"

Mark was stunned by what she said. He had always thought that it was because he had slept with Callie that she had left. It hadn't even occurred to him that she was hurt because he was having a child with someone other than her.

"You had said that you wanted to wait to get married, to have children; you wanted to get to a better spot in your career. So I assumed that you were upset that I had slept, yet again, with someone else."

"I know that's what I said. And it was how I felt. But then things shifted for me. I realized that if I put things on hold, that I could be missing out on the best thing that would ever happen to me."

Mark's eyes became a deeper blue when she said that. Lexie realized how much it had hurt him when she had told him that she wanted to wait to get married and have kids.

"And if you are wondering, yes you are the most important thing that I could miss out on, but I choose not to."

"I want those things with you, I really do, but I also want to take some time, not rush into anything"

"I agree. But so that you know, when you do ask me to marry you, I will say yes. I am in this. Now please kiss me."

"I would love to kiss you"

And Mark did exactly that. He kissed her, and poured all of his love into that kiss. The rest of his life was going to start right now, with this kiss and this woman.


End file.
